4. Forcing her to apologize

Lu Tingyuan did not beat around the bush. He said bluntly, “Have Jiang Yao apologize to Yiyi.”

For Jiang Yao to apologize was obviously impossible.

Ji Qingran thought for a moment, then said, “Invite Su Yiyi out.”

Lu Tingyuan gave a brief “All right,” and soon sent her the time and place of the meeting.

It was a teahouse owned by one of his friends. In other words, it was full of his people, so there was no need to worry that Su Yiyi would be bullied there.

Ji Qingran did not tell Jiang Yao about it. Knowing Jiang Yao’s temper, there was no way she would bow her head.

As for Lu Tingyuan targeting Jiang Yao’s company at every turn, it was nothing more than wanting to vent anger on behalf of Su Yiyi.

Then letting that anger fall on her was just as well.

The time she had agreed on with Lu Tingyuan was seven-thirty. Rush hour traffic was heavy, and she arrived almost at the dot.

Fortunately, neither Lu Tingyuan nor Su Yiyi had arrived yet, so he could not pin any blame on her for lacking sincerity.

That wait lasted until nine o’clock that night.

She was not sure whether this was Lu Tingyuan’s way of testing her sincerity, so she sent him a message to ask.

The reply came back: “Yiyi isn’t feeling well. We’ll be there in a bit.”

That meant she was not allowed to leave.

Ji Qingran had no choice but to keep waiting.

It was past eleven when Lu Tingyuan finally came with Su Yiyi.

As soon as she entered, Su Yiyi smiled and explained to her first, “Sorry, Sister Qingran. I was exhausted from class this afternoon, and Senior was worried about me, so he let me sleep first. He only brought me over after I’d rested. You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you?”

Ji Qingran saw that she was glowing, the corners of her lips even carrying a sweet smile, which showed she had truly gotten enough rest.

Since she had come to make peace in the first place, and had already waited several hours, there was no need to fall out with Su Yiyi at this moment.

So she shook her head with a fairly good attitude and said politely, “No. It’s good enough that you could come.”

Lu Tingyuan glanced around and, seeing that only Ji Qingran was there, his expression turned immediately sour. “Where is Jiang Yao?”

“I’m here too. That’s the same.”

She spoke in a faint tone, filling the teacups before her as she talked. “Please, have a seat.”

Su Yiyi sat down opposite her, smiling with innocent naivete. “Senior said you had something to ask me, Sister Qingran. Go ahead. If it’s something I can help with, I surely will.”

As she said that, she glanced at Lu Tingyuan, her smile growing even more obvious. “If it’s something I can’t help with, I’ll still ask Senior to help as much as he can.”

Ji Qingran could only find it amusing.

Back when she and Lu Tingyuan were in their passionate days, whenever she ran into trouble, he would only tell her to solve it herself. He had always stood by and watched.

Now that they had broken up, she was the one who could borrow Su Yiyi’s light to have him help her.

“Then I’ll speak plainly.”

Ji Qingran handed Su Yiyi a cup of tea.

Su Yiyi did not take it, only looked at her and smiled faintly.

So she set the tea down, then handed one to Lu Tingyuan. He also did not take it, and she put that cup down properly as well.

“Starting a business is not easy. Please show us some mercy, Young Master Lu, and do not drive us to ruin.”

Ever since entering the private room, Lu Tingyuan’s expression had not improved. At those words, he stared at her expressionlessly for a long time before saying coldly, “When did I ever drive you to ruin?”

Ji Qingran thought of the several investors Jiang Yao had mentioned, and forcing down her temper, said, “Then please, Young Master Lu, be magnanimous and spare us this time. Don’t keep pressuring those investors.”

“Fine. As long as Jiang Yao apologizes to Yiyi, I’ll be magnanimous.”

When he said this, his gaze stayed fixed on her without blinking.

Ji Qingran met his eyes for a while, and suddenly understood.

Lu Tingyuan clearly knew as well that Jiang Yao would never lower herself to apologize to Su Yiyi. Saying this was merely giving his harassment a pretext.

She remembered how, at the gathering that day, Lu Tingyuan had asked her, “Do you think this way about Yiyi behind her back?”

She had been furious then and, in her lack of composure, admitted it. But she had forgotten that Su Yiyi was the one he held in the very center of his heart. Let alone embarrassing the girl to her face, even a few words of private disapproval were probably forbidden.

So now, on the surface, it looked like Lu Tingyuan was making trouble for Jiang Yao. In the end, the trouble was aimed at Ji Qingran.

He was going to make her learn a lesson.

Ji Qingran lowered her eyes and said sincerely, “I’m sorry. I was the one in the wrong.”

Lu Tingyuan’s brows furrowed deeply, his expression already very impatient. “Ji Qingran, who wants to hear your apology? I already said it—have Jiang Yao come.”

Ji Qingran looked at him, finding him unfamiliar to the extreme at this moment.

Strange, really. They had been together for so long, had done the most intimate things between them, and yet now, though he was so close she could almost reach out and touch him, he felt terrifyingly distant.

When she spoke again, her tone was equally cold. “Why must Young Master Lu insist on having Jiang Yao come? She offended Miss Su only because she was standing up for me. In the end, isn’t it my fault? Shouldn’t I be the one apologizing?”

“This is how you apologize?”

Lu Tingyuan looked at her, his eyes growing colder by the inch. “Ranran, if you’re apologizing, at least look like you mean it. You and Jiang Yao are like this, and I can’t see any sincerity in your apology.”

Ji Qingran lifted her head and met his gaze. “What does Young Master Lu think I should do to show sincerity?”

Lu Tingyuan averted his eyes and no longer looked at her. “The one Jiang Yao offended was Yiyi.”

Ji Qingran curved her lips mechanically. She had known it would not be that easy to get through to him. His little girl could not bear even the slightest grievance.

“Miss Su, I was in the wrong at that gathering that day. I was narrow-minded and should not have ordered Jiang Yao to lay a hand on you. All the mistakes were mine. Please be generous and forgive me.”

She lowered herself very far, and even in order to let Lu Tingyuan see her sincerity, she bowed respectfully to Su Yiyi in front of him.

Only, when those humble words left her mouth, they still came with some difficulty.

If one listened closely, one could catch the faintest catch in her voice.

Unfortunately, Lu Tingyuan’s attention was not on her.

He was fully focused on Su Yiyi. When he caught the latter’s helpless look, he encouraged her with a nod.

The meaning was very clear: he wanted Su Yiyi to settle grievances as grievances, and vengeance as vengeance, without worrying about his face.

The girl had never experienced such a scene before. She bit her lip and remained silent from beginning to end.

Neither saying whether she forgave her nor saying she would not, and not even asking Ji Qingran to get up first.

She simply sat firmly across from her, quietly watching all the while.

After quite a long while, she finally said in a small voice, “I’ve lived this long and never had wine thrown on me before. Something like this happened, and I didn’t know what to do.”

Then she looked at Lu Tingyuan again. “Senior, actually I don’t remember much of that night anymore. I only remember the wine was very cold, and I was scared.”

Lu Tingyuan reached out and patted the back of her hand reassuringly. “Don’t be afraid. Senior won’t let you go through anything like that again.”

Only then did Ji Qingran straighten her back.

Her gaze fell on the pair of hands overlapping on the table, and for a moment she grew dazed before quickly coming back to herself.

“Miss Su, if I apologize to you like this, is it still not enough to make you calm down?”

Su Yiyi pressed her lips together tightly and murmured, “I, I don’t know.”

Ji Qingran smiled.

Because her expressions had always been so faint, she seemed cold and difficult to approach. Only when she smiled did the dimples beside her mouth appear, making people realize how beautiful her features truly were.

She looked a little like a soft bun that was easy to bully.

Lu Tingyuan frowned, about to ask what she was smiling at, when he saw Ji Qingran reach out and pick up the teacup from the table.

He subconsciously moved in front of Su Yiyi.

The next second, Ji Qingran raised her hand and swiftly poured the entire cup of tea over her own head.

“Does this satisfy Miss Su?”

“Still not enough? Fine, then let’s do it again!”

She lifted the other two cups of tea from the table as well.

Two cups. Three cups.

“Has Miss Su calmed down yet? If not, I can keep pouring until you’re satisfied.”